Although the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted nearly 30 years ago, lawyers say lawsuit filings aren't cooling down. In fact, ADA complaints specifically against website owners are heating up.

Last February, Seyfarth Shaw reported an overall 16 percent uptick in ADA violation suits in 2017, with many suits filed over website accessibility.

“The uptick I have seen is a dramatic uptick in website accessibility lawsuits,” said Marty Orlick, a San Francisco-based Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell partner. She noted that Beyonce was recently sued over her website allegedly not being ADA complaint, a publicized example of a growing trend of plaintiffs attorneys targeting website accessibility.

On Jan. 3, Beyonce's company Parkwood Entertainment was sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by a blind fan who alleged she wasn't able to fully use Beyonce's site because it wasn't ADA compliant. The plaintiff seeks injunctive relief requiring Beyonce's company to make the site ADA compliant and monetary damages under New York City and state laws.

The possibilities for monetary damages in California and New York make those states appealing and unsurprisingly hotbeds for ADA filings, lawyers said. California was No. 1 for ADA filings with close to 3,000 in 2017, followed by Florida's 1,488 and 1,023 in New York, according to Seyfarth Shaw's 2018 report.

Unlike California and New York, Florida doesn't provide monetary damages for ADA lawsuits. Still, some plaintiffs attorneys have established a practice in ADA litigation there, said Boca Raton, Florida-based Scott Topolski. 

“I think probably because the lawyers who carve out a niche for this type of work represent individuals and groups based in Florida,” Topolski said. “That's the best explanation I have. Those that are filing these lawsuits are based in Florida, and for whatever reason it's been a state that has seen a large amount of lawsuits.”

The Future of ADA Suits

What's more, some have questioned if serial ADA filers are committing “legal extortion.”

Topolski noted an “overwhelming” amount of these ADA suits are settling, a tendency encouraged by some defense counsel to fend off their and plaintiff's expensive attorney fees.

“I will almost routinely tell clients to settle earlier than later, because the cost gets prohibitive as they go on,” Topolski said.

The cycle of filling ADA claims and settling or taking to trial those claims seems to be an expected cycle with no end in sight.

“I think we can reasonably expect there will be more lawsuits about websites, apps and technology in state and federal court,” said Seyfarth Shaw partner Minh Vu. 

In a recent ADA case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel reversed and remanded a lower federal court's ruling that dismissed ADA and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act charges against Domino's Pizza. On Jan. 15, the Ninth Circuit wrote that the district court erred in finding Domino's due process rights were violated by the plaintiff imposing liability.

The plaintiff didn't seek to impose liability because Domino's didn't comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. The panel also found Domino's due process rights weren't violated over the pizza food chain's claim that the U.S. Department of Justice didn't “specifically” list requirements for companies' websites to follow under the ADA.

The Ninth Circuit's ruling was significant because it unequivocally followed other courts arguments.

“When the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision, it took the position of many other federal courts and kind of put an end to those arguments made by Domino's and many other defendants,” Vu said. “It was basically the only case the defense of due process and primary jurisdiction doctrine prevailed at the district court level and that's been reversed, making clear those arguments aren't persuading any judge.”

However, she noted concerns that the court doesn't specifically say what exactly companies are expected to do when configuring their website or apps to ADA compliance.

“I think personally, there's some legitimacy to due process when you get into the weeds that haven't been answered, which there should be detailed guidance of what companies should be doing in revamping their website,” Vu added.